


Golden Chains

by pasteltakashi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Keith is a prince, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, bare with me, captive prince inspired, if you've read cp then the pets will make more sense, royal au, there is a lot of details to be established
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:40:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22923463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pasteltakashi/pseuds/pasteltakashi
Summary: Keith is given more responsibility than he had ever wanted, hosting the diplomatic meeting of the four households. And of course this was only going to become more complex as he got deeper into this web of responsibilities.[Slow Updates]
Relationships: Allura/Lance (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Ryan Kinkade/Lance
Kudos: 8





	1. Responsibilities

Keith’s fingers tapped at the oaken table, he was tired and bored. His parents were valid in their aim to teach him the ways of diplomacy and allow him to host a meeting of kingdoms by himself, with only Kolivan there to advise him. Nonetheless, the wait for the arriving court members was a bore to say the least. The waiting period was about 2 days, maybe 3 depending on circumstances, but then he was waiting on 4 households to turn up so it was a little understandable. Still the wait bored him so, he wanted them to turn up already and get this meeting under way already.

Tired of just tapping fingers and sitting around he decided to go on a walk. He paced through the palace passing servants and pets alike, they could all while the time away carelessly, at least the pets could. Keith paused to listen into two pet’s conversation, hearing them gleefully talk about the coming guests. He supposed that during these meeting many guests spoiled the palace’s pets so it was only natural that they looked forward to such an event. At least the pets could enjoy this, god knows that he wasn’t going to enjoy it. To him this was just going to be a tiresome meeting that would end out in a huge argument, as always, that he’s be responsible for. Hosting meetings was a job that no household wanted but had to take.

As he stood idling watching the pets gossip and like time marched forward, so much so that he found Kolivan rushing to him. The older man looked visibly bothered to find Keith willing the time away in the company of palace pets, although he had known the prince long enough to know that it was not as it seemed. Nevertheless, there was a pressing matter that needed to be addressed, as per the reason the older advisor was present.

“Prince, the princess of Altea has arrived. You must welcome her” Kolivan urged before watching Keith roll his eyes as this signified the beginning of it all.

“Very well, let us go”

Kolivan escorted Keith to the palace foyer where the princess and her party waited. The princess was known to travel light, bring only her advisor and a pet from her own palace, this made accommodating her much easier than most of the other households. Once face to face with the princess, Keith bowed as did Kolivan and the princess gestured her hand forth to be kissed. With the pomp of their meeting out of the way Keith could settle and speak to Allura normally, after all they were childhood friends.

“It’s a pleasure to see you Allura” he smiled, “I didn’t think Alfor would be sending you out here”

Allura let out an airy laugh before replying, “Well, it appears that your parents having influenced mine as they felt I should attend more meetings independently”

Keith snickered in a childish way; their parents were passing the baton in the most subtle of manners. The vail of independence and practice was just convenient in Keith’s opinion. As the humour of their situation faded, his attention was turned to the pet she had brought with her; he was lean and had honeyed brown skin which made the blue markings below his eyes cry out for even more attention as they were also framed almost perfectly by his short bangs. He also noted that the pet was essentially dripping in gold; bangles and bracelets hanging off his wrists, an intricate choker dressing his neck and a dainty hanging earing gleaming in the light as a sapphire hung from it.

“My Allura… You’ve almost spoilt everyone with your pet” Keith cooed in a somewhat mocking manner. “What’s his name?”

Allura seemed a little embarrassed with Keith brought up the pet she had brought, her cheeks heating up a little as she glanced to the side.

“His name is Lance…” she answered.

Lance bowed as he was introduced, Keith stifled a mocking laugh. This pet seemed like a chaste maiden, the ones dressed like a jeweller’s display always were, and not to mention he had the nerve to simply bow. It was always seen that pets were to kneel when mingling with royalty in this manner and him not doing so just alerted Keith to the fact that he mustn’t venture out often. This all just enhanced Allura’s embarrassment, enough that Coran decided to step in.

“If we may, could we be escorted to our quarters?” Coran asked as he piped up.

“Of course,” Keith replied before beckoning a guard over, “escort princess and her party to their quarters please”

The guard nodded before directing the princess to follow him, the interaction being carefully watched by the prince. He paid close attention to the pet, Lance, watching as he smiled at the guard, earning one in return. He could sense that that boy was going to be nothing but trouble during this already hellish time. Keith turned to Kolvian to witness as dusting of pink across the older man’s features. Nothing but trouble.

“Take a cold bath, Kolvain” Keith sighed before marching off.

* * *

Keith’s schedule returned to simply waiting and willing the time away, he didn’t think that anyone else would be arriving today as the sky was darkening and royal bloods never tended to travel through the night. This left the prince at a loose end once again, much to his frustration. He never cared to while away his time with any pets, such a stance earned him the status of being frigid and such; not that he really cared. But it did mean there were less ways to pass the time in the palace unfortunately. Although as he paced, he found himself an excellent way to pass the evening by, as he had oh so fortunately caught sight of the altean pet. The prince had caught Lance talking to the same guard from earlier, both of them wearing foolish smiles as the pet so obviously flirted.

“Lance” Keith said sharply as he approached.

The two went straight as bored upon the prince’s approach, both looking different ways as if they were just caught doing something far worse than flirting. This made it so clear to Keith that Lance would be so easy to tease, it would so much fun if he wished it to be.

“I see you’re getting to know Kinkade… He’s one of my finest guards. I’ve hardly met a man so brave yet so endearing in the king’s guard” Keith told him, his tone a parody to sincerity.

“Is that so?” Lance replied, his whole atmosphere different from before. “You’re so lucky Prince Kogane, I would adore having someone like him in the guard back in Altea”

There was a clang from his bracelets as he touched them, running a finger down his chest. It was like the pet from earlier was a totally different person, Lance seemed so much more confident. In fact, the way he spoke to Keith was almost unheard of, no pet would dare speak to a royal like that in their dizziest daydreams.

“Really? Then I advise you butter up Allura, I’m not giving guards away” Keith replied, starting something with Lance.

“That’s a shame… It was worth a try” Lance said, shooting the prince a smirk. “Speaking of the princess I should return to her; she’ll likely need attending soon”

Lance took his leave, knowing having wound the prince up. At least with him here this meeting wouldn’t be so boring. As much as Lance bugged Keith in a manner he couldn’t explain he made this all a little more interesting. 


	2. He Brings A Gift

The two households that made up the Gaia region had arrived the following day, meaning that Keith had his work cut out for him. In contrast to the alteans, those from the Gaia region never travelled right in any respect. Both households were run by the Holts and between them it seemed as if they brought along a small chunk of their palace. Keith did his best to hide the fact that all these guests were becoming overwhelming, especially when the lady of the Altean-Gaia household wouldn’t stop bouncing off the wall. Fortunately, Matt kept her manageable so it gave the prince one less thing to worry about: but it still was a lot to deal with. God only knows why lord Holt brought so many nobles with him, it felt more like a giant party than a diplomatic meeting with so many people.

As a result of this all, the foyer buzzed with life, something it normally lacked on any given day. Nobles going back and forth with servants trailing behind, some carrying luggage while others listened intently to requests. It was easy to say that the palace had been swept into a frenzy, one which Keith found himself in the middle of unfortunately. The frazzled prince almost stumbled through the crowd of people, bumping into lord Holt in a foolish manner.

“My apologies…” Keith said to the older man as his slowly setting fatigued showed.

Sam laughed it off easily patting the young man on the back, it wasn’t like Keith was the first exhausted host he had come across. After all, he had been representing Gaia at these meetings for quite a long time now, long enough to be used to the hustle and bustle of arrivals. Meaning he could forgive the young prince for struggling as he was definitely not alone in the experience.

“It’s quite alright, Keith” Sam reassured him, “we’ll be settled soon enough, hang in there for now”

Keith was left with that sentiment to hold onto, that and an awful headache. Neither of which were very motivating in all honesty, it left him hanging to the extent that he did a most unprincely thing and left his guests. The prince disappeared from the foyer, sneaking away upstairs back to his room where he so gleefully threw himself on to his bed. Keith revelled in the softness of his canopy bed, feeling the cushiony bedding swallowing him up. Things always felt so much better when you knew you weren’t supposed to be doing it.

While the prince took a break a little nap, Kolivan found himself run off his feet; swapping places with the sleeping prince essentially. Since no one could find the prince they simply went to the second in command with their issues and questions, and it was easy to say that there were plenty of such. With reasonable struggle and woe, Kolivan worked through the mass of nobles and diplomats who needed something for whatever reason. At this point Kolivan was furious with Keith, who had oh so casually abandoned his duties and left him with this all. The advisor essentially stomped through the palace looking for the prince, no one dared get in his way. 

Steadily, Kolivan searched each place that the prince would normally frequent eventually ending up at the door of his room, it was the only place he could be now. With little to no regard for properness the older man flung the door opening, starling the sleeping prince awake as a result. Keith looked drowsy and confused, but no amount of drowsiness or confusion would save him from the wrath that was an angry Kolivan.

“Never before have I been so angry and disappointed!” The advisor yelled.

“This has been your opportunity to prove yourself as a worthy prince. And what do you do? You go and spoil it for yourself. I expect so much more from you Keith, you have so much potential but you-“

Kolivan’s rant was sharply cut off as a rather sing song voice was heard along with a knock on the open door. This all seemed like some confusing dream to Keith right now, all these people heading to his room, talking and yelling. He only really woke up and got back to reality when he saw Kolivan bow as it caused him to look to the door way where he saw the familiar Galra prince.

“Aw, how sweet. Little prince Keith is taking a nap” Lotor mocked causing both men in the room to become embarrassed to some extent.

Keith sat up in his bed, his tired eyes set on Lotor as he glared. The pair possessed a sort of love-hate relationship, they got on well but they so casually took pot shots at one another. It was a surprise that the Galra court functioned with these two in it, two future kings who would happily kill the other; it was counterproductive to say the least. 

Filling the silence that he had caused, Lotor decided to cut to the chase. After all he didn’t waltz up here just to mock Keith and embarrass Kolivan, no, he had something he actually had to do. 

“So, my people are settling in nicely. However, I do have something pressing to discuss” Lotor told the prince as he picked his nails idly.

“My father and mother want to congratulate you, hosting a meeting alone is a big step and such. And so… Well, I have a gift, a congratulatory gift”

Keith rubbed his eyes before getting up off the bed, he found it very hard to believe that Zarkon and that hag cared enough to give him a gift. If anything, he didn’t even feel like he deserved a gift, this was just a stupid meeting which never went well no matter who hosted it. But then again, Keith was curious about this ‘gift’ since it was from Zarkon and the lot; god knows what his version of a congratulatory gift was. The prince sigh as he strolled over to Lotor, sleep still present in his features. He gestured for Lotor to lead the way as he knew where this gift was and of course was the one wanting to show it.

The gesture lead Lotor to dawn a sly smirk before walking the prince along; leading him down the stairs, through the foyer, to Lotor’s own quarters in fact. The mere fact that he was alone with Lotor right outside his quarters was enough to make Keith nervous, it wasn’t a good feeling at all. However, he naively trusted that the other wouldn’t be so foolish to pull something in his own palace meaning he willingly carried on.

Hand on the door knob, the Galra prince turned to face the raven-haired male, his smirk making itself evident as a result. It was obvious that Lotor was getting something out of this and the scared him a little, what exactly was behind this door? He watched with anticipation as the door was opened only to see nothing but a closed canopy bed. Keith was about to talk when Lotor hushed his open mouth, telling him that he needed to wait a moment for his surprise. With that tease he went over to the bed, opening a curtain of the bed to reveal the much-anticipated surprise.

“Here you go little Yorak, your special gift!” Lotor cooed, venom hinting in his voice.

Keith’s jaw almost dropped; he could hardly believe what he was seeing. This all seeming like a cruel joke… His eyes fell on a man who he assumed was supposed to be a pet as he was drenched in silver and gold. But that was the least of his concerns there, the man was blind folded and bound; his single hand fixed to his belt. Scars dressed the pet’s body, a soft introduction to the fact that he was missing an arm which lead to Keith having many suspicions as to where this man originated. 

“Lotor, what is this?” Keith asked in a hiss.

Lotor snickered at the ghostliness of the other’s features, “It’s a gift, Keith. Father has given you his champion as a pet, aren’t you glad?”

He knew that Keith wasn’t glad, Lotor had known him along enough to know that this was the last thing he’d ever want. That smug knowledge was written across his face which made the younger prince furious, playing into the little game Lotor had wanted to start. 

Keith demanded that Lotor let this man be and leave him alone, telling Lotor that he wanted nothing to do with this. The anger in his voice humoured him greatly, he was so mad and it would only get worse if all went according to his plan.

“But Keith, that means you’re rejecting a gift of kindness… And could you imagine what would happen to this poor thing if he was sent back?” Lotor said batting his eyelashes.

Rage bubbled inside him, he could hardly believe this happening and that Lotor could be such as snake of a man. He willed himself to calm down, his anger would only make this situation worse and it was likely Lotor was enjoying his anger. Keith had to think like his mother, strategically with well thought through plans, not with impulse or fury.

“Very well… I’m going to take him back to my quarters…” Keith said through gritted teeth.

The prince stomped over to the bed, yanking the poor man off the bed. The pet stumbled around, struggling to balance as he couldn’t brace himself at all. Watching him stumble was painful to say the least so Keith resolved to hook his arm around the other to balance him out. This was a shamble to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very wack, not too great, here you go

**Author's Note:**

> ooft, sorry this won't be updated often since I'm dumb. But please stay posted my guys.


End file.
